name
Meaning 1
A surname
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
rove
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ɹəʊv/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /ɹoʊv/
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rhymes with -əʊv
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CMU ARPABET: R OW1 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boatbuilding.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and lightly twisted, preparatory to further processing; a roving.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
The act of wandering; a ramble.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To shoot with arrows (at).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To roam or wander through.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To card wool or other fibres.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To draw through an eye or aperture.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To plough into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows together.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
To practice robbery on the seas; to voyage about on the seas as a pirate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 13
simple past of rive
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, past
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 14
simple past of reeve
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, past
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 15
move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The gypsies roamed the woods
- roving vagabonds
- the wandering Jew
- The cattle roam across the prairie
- the laborers drift from one town to the next
- They rolled from town to town
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, range, drift, vagabond
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: travel, go, move, locomote
Narrower terms: maunder, gallivant, gad, jazz around
History
Etymology
Probably from Middle English *roven, a Midlands variant of Northern Middle English raven (“to wander”), from Old Norse ráfa (“to rove; stray about”). Cognate with Icelandic ráfa (“to wander”), Scots rave (“to wander; stray; roam”).
Inflected forms.
Across languages
Translations
25 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: скитам (skitam) — to wander about at random
- Bulgarian: бродя (brodja) — to wander about at random
- Bulgarian: блуждая (bluždaja) — to wander about at random
- Chinese Mandarin: 游荡 (yóudàng) — to wander about at random
- Esperanto: vagi — to wander about at random
- Finnish: kuljeskella — to wander about at random
- French: errer — to wander about at random
- French: vagabonder — to wander about at random
- German: sich herumtreiben — to wander about at random
- German: umherschweifen — to wander about at random
- Hungarian: barangol — to wander about at random
- Icelandic: vappa — to wander about at random
- Italian: girovagare — to wander about at random
- Italian: vagabondare — to wander about at random
- Latin: vagor — to wander about at random
- Polish: błądzić — to wander about at random
- Polish: włóczyć się — to wander about at random
- Polish: wędrować bez celu — to wander about at random
- Russian: стра́нствовать (stránstvovatʹ) — to wander about at random
- Russian: скитаться (skitatʹsja) — to wander about at random
- Spanish: deambular — to wander about at random
- Spanish: vagar — to wander about at random
- Spanish: yirar — to wander about at random
- Swedish: flacka — to wander about at random
- Ottoman Turkish: كزمك (gezmek) — to wander about at random